Only Another Outcast
by psycotroll
Summary: Movie fic. Between when they get back from Liberty Island and the last scene, Scott explains to the students what happened.


Only Another Outcast  
Rated PG  
Summary: Scott has that talk with the other students  
Archiving: If you want it...  
Disclaimer: yadda yadda yadda, I own only the clothes I wear  
  
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Scott sighed warily, running his hand through his thick short hair as he stepped into his office and contemplated what he was going to say. A lot had happened that day; starting with Rogue's runaway and ending with them coming back bedraggled and spent, carrying a limp- near death Wolverine with them after a brutal battle on Liberty Island.  
  
He knew that it was late and that everyone was supposed to be in bed right now, but he also knew that no one was. It didn't take a telepath to know that a giant jet landing under the basketball court, no matter how late, was enough to wake everyone up.   
  
He only hesitated another moment before he leaned over to press the button for the PA system. Usually they didn't have to use it: why bother when the head of the school was also the world's most powerful telepath? But right now the Professor was in a coma and there was no other immediate way to contact everyone. "Students of Xavier's school, this is Mr. Summers. I normally would not disturb you at this hour but as I'm sure you know there is a lot we need to discuss. I want every student to report to the living room ASAP" with that he switched off the speaker and collapsed into a chair.   
  
He knew that he had to keep up his leader persona, but he was so tired, from everything that had happened and of these types of instances in general, that he wasn't totally certain he could.  
  
His lips tightened and his forehead creased as he thought about the fact that all of this could have been avoided with just a little bit of effort on everyone's part.   
  
His frown lessened slightly as his girlfriend and only currently active telepath at the school, Jean Grey, walked in through the doorway leading to his office. "Scott, honey..." she started, sensing his weariness and hint of anger still smoldering, but deeply buried. Without another word she maneuvered around behind his chair and wrapped her arms lovingly around his neck, pressing her head gently against his.  
  
"How's Logan?" he asked after a couple brief moments. "He's worse for wear, many of his wounds weren't healed when Rogue absorbed him, and his contact her was long enough that I'm not certain he will wake up anytime too terribly soon, but he will heal".   
  
There were another few minutes of understanding silence between the two before Scott sighed and stretched out his legs. "I guess I should go talk to them now" he acknowledged.   
  
He felt Jean's head brush against his cheek as she nodded and he turned around to give her a quick kiss. "Just go easy on them, Scott, they're scared enough as it is". Scott smirked dryly. "Hey if I wanted to scare them, I'd just introduce them to their new and improved Rogue" he noted the sadness that flickered through his love's eyes and regretted the remark instantly.  
  
"I know... I shouldn't try to make jokes off of this, Logan and Rogue both almost died twice. And right now, Rogue is more miserable than ever with at least two personalities spinning in her head, plus who knows how many more".   
  
"It's okay hon, just go ahead and talk to the kids" she smiled weakly and through his red visor Scott could see the sadness still etched subtly in her features. Without another word, he rose from the chair and walked slowly out of his office, towards the living room.   
  
He could hear the sound of murmuring as he got closer, but it sounded muted and scared, even though he couldn't make out the words. He paused right outside the view of those inside the room and took a deep breath and an instant to compose himself, he straightened his back and squared his shoulders before stepping as confidently into the room as possible.   
  
As soon as he was in sight all sound ceased. He could see most of the students were gathered into little huddles, all of them scared and nervous looking.   
  
Off to one side he saw Jubilation Lee, a young Asian about Rogue's age, around her were Kitty Pryde, Bobby Drake, St John, and Pietro Maximoff. Off to another side stood the Kentucky cannonball Sam Guthrie with his younger sister Paige, as well as Angelo, Rhane Sinclair, Lorna, and his younger brother Alex.   
  
Other groups were gathered through the room as well, all looking to him for answers to their unspoken questions. "I'm sure that even by now most of you have a vague idea of what happened today, so before I explain everything to you as it happened, I want you all to know just how disappointed I am in all of you" as he spoke, he felt a fire of sorts sweep through him and his voice grew stronger and more commanding with every word.   
  
"At this school you are all different, all outcasts, you come here to make a home where you will be safe. You are all powerful people in your various powers, all with vast potential, and all potentially dangerous as well. All of you have faced the hardships of being a mutant and have come to terms with who you are. But today you judged another, someone like yourselves who has already seen more hardships than most of you can even imagine, and you condemned her for something she couldn't control"  
  
He paused to let his words sink in and took note of the faces around him. All of them wore a guilty expression and looked genuinely regretful. But the young man was on a roll now and he wasn't going to finish just yet, not until they had a better idea of the poor little southern gal they had shunned.  
  
"Did any of you ever even ask Rogue about her past? Think about life from her point of view? Well, let me enlighten you a bit. Rogue's power first manifested a few months ago. She was caught completely off guard by the instance when she went to kiss her first boy, she absorbed his memories, his thoughts, even some of his physical ability and the boy spent a month in a coma.   
  
A few weeks later, at a school dance, it happened again. This time she was persecuted by the students and even her own family. She was forced to leave and spent nearly a month hitchhiking across wilderness until she ended up in Canada. Even now, she still carries part of those she touched. Can any of you even begin to imagine going through, quite possibly, your entire life without the ability to ever touch another living being again, skin to skin?"   
  
Several people looked stricken, it was obvious the thought had never occurred to them, "That night, when you saw her absorb Wolverine, you were quick to judge her, but did you judge him for spearing her in the first place?"  
  
More guilty looks surfaced and Scott sighed, more at ease now that he had vented some of his original anger. He began again, but in a gentler voice this time   
  
"Look, I know you guys were just scared of what could happen to you, but Rogue is living person and needs your friendship as much as anyone else, probably even more. Besides, we all have had our share of 'incidents'. I seem to remember someone freezing the entire cafeteria once. Or someone blowing up two TV's and a VCR" he recalled, looking pointedly from Bobby to Jubilee, both of whom blushed slightly at the memory.   
  
"Or there was always that someone who burnt down the living room. And someone who still tends to leave her skins lying around. Of course how could we forget the someone that walked around for half a day with half of the kitchen silverware stuck to her"   
  
Now St John, Paige, and Lorna were blushing as well.   
  
He noticed Kitty giggling at Jubilee and Bobby's discomfort and decided to throw in a memory for her as well, "There was also that time someone phased through the wall into the boy's shower room" he reminded her casually, watching with a small sense of amusement as she blushed beet red and tried to hide her face in her arms.   
  
"But the point is that we all have accidents, but no one rejected any of you for them, so you need to keep the same in mind for others as well. Now, I'm sure most of you are curious as to why a giant stealth jet launched out of your basketball court this evening...".   
  
There were several affirmative nods and their exuberant leader launched into a detailed story of what had happened, from Rogue's disappearance, at which point Bobby Drake seemed almost horrified by the fact that it had in essence been him that was responsible, to the professor going into a coma, to Logan saving Rogue and letting her absorb him again.  
  
For a little while afterwards, everyone stood in an astonished, terrified sort of silence. Scott noticed that Jubilee's small group seemed most affected by all of this information. Finally Kitty stepped forward nervously and looked slowly into her teacher's visor, right about where his eyes were.   
  
"Mr. Summers, we're all really sorry about what happened, especially me and Jubes. We just totally blew her off after... But she had been pretty cool and everything before that so it was just kind of wrong to..." she trailed off uncertainly, looking down to where she was wringing her hands.   
  
Scott smiled gently, as one would at a chastised child, "Thank you Kitty. But I think perhaps that information would be better served to someone else".   
  
Kitty's head snapped up involuntarily in surprise. Standing partially hidden in the shadows behind Mr. Summers stood a small, frail looking young girl, her long dark hair offset by two unnatural locks of shock white hair.  
  
As more eyes rose to the girl's hiding spot, she stepped out into the full light where everyone could see her. "Thanks One Eye" she said gruffly, causing everyone to eye her skeptically.   
  
To the eye, it was the same small Rogue that had arrived only a couple of days ago, but there was something more dangerous and rough about her at the moment that hadn't been there before.   
  
"Ya really gotta restock that fridge" she remarked in the same gruff tone. "Yeah" Scott agreed absently. "So're ya'll just gonna stand there and gawk like a bunch a'scared deer, r'ya gonna 'pologize" as soon as the words were out, Rogue's eyes flew open and she held a gloved hand to her mouth.  
  
"Ah'm sorry mistah Summers" she apologized in her more natural voice. "Ah can't help it". "It's alright Rogue" he reassured her, slipping an arm protectively around her shoulders.  
  
"Get yer hands off me Summers" she growled. Scott couldn't help but grin as Rogue's eyes grew wide again and she replaced her hand back over her mouth. This was certainly going to be interesting.  
  
"I'll see you kids in the morning. I want you in your rooms in fifteen minutes. Got that?" everyone nodded and with one last amused grin he turned to make his way back to his room where Jean was waiting for him.  
  
As he started to leave the room, he heard several people talking to Rogue, apologizing and some just talking. He heard her laugh lightly and he allowed himself another smile.  
  
Just before he was out of earshot, he heard Kitty and Jubilee invite Rogue up to their room for the night since she didn't technically have one yet. He was glad things were finally working out.   
  



End file.
